


Eerie... but Beautiful

by Magical_Awesome_Kid



Category: Welcome to Hell - All Media Types
Genre: Fanon, Gen, Inspired by Music, Music, friendship building, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-23 22:58:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4895545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magical_Awesome_Kid/pseuds/Magical_Awesome_Kid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. ~Maya Angelou</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eerie... but Beautiful

     There had been a rumor going around school for the past couple of weeks, and Jonathan was sure that it was a load of bull.

     Some students who were in the school on weekends claimed that there was strange noises coming from the music room every weekend. Sometimes on Saturday, sometimes on Sunday, and sometimes on a random Tuesday. It would always be the violin, sometimes playing something old and slow, other times fiddling like the devil himself.

     Theories were abound, all around Jonathan. Usually, he tuned them out. What with his personal demon making his life a living hell, he didn’t want to get involved with some “ghost of a dead, vengeful state violinist” or the “leftover music from a teacher long gone” or, gag him, the “sounds from a lost lover.”

     No, Jonathan had enough to deal with in Sock.

     Who, as a demon, was supposed to get him to off himself. Honestly, Jonathan had contemplated suicide before, but he wasn’t that far yet. In fact, since Sock came around, staying alive was something he was doing out of spite just to get back at the annoying little dork. The only time Jonathan got peace was during the rare evenings or weekends where Sock decided he “wasn’t going to put in overtime.”

     It was especially weird when Sock spoke like that. The way Sock made it sound, Hell was more like a corporation than eternal torture.

     Although spending eternity alphabetizing (as he had overheard Sock yelling to himself one time over Jonathan’s “job offer”) would totally suck.

     In fact, the little annoyance was not stopping to talk incessantly as this Friday rolled on. This time, it was about the “spooky hole” that he’d been trying to get Jonathan to stick something through.

     “Anyway, I think I can even see some nicked bone in there. Cool, right? I was aiming lower, but, ah… I was a little… Hey, where are we?” Sock suddenly asked as Jonathan looked over to the floating boy. They were in a brightly lit room at the front of the school, several cubical-like desks around that led down a hall to an office or two. It was neat with some hanged pictures obviously from the art department of Helsinki High. A woman at the front desk was straightening some papers as envelopes and bags waited to get picked up.

     Jonathan rolled his eyes at the floating, colorful demon. “The front office, you idiot.” He grumbled to Sock before he approached the woman. Ignoring Sock again, he turned to the woman with his attempt of a smile. It was more of a strained grimace, but, in his defense, Sock had kept him up the night before debating Star Wars vs Star Trek for hours (Jonathan was firm for Wars, but the bastard kid HAD to insist otherwise, causing an all-night argument; Jonathan reminded himself, again, how it wasn’t fair that demons didn’t need sleep).

     The woman seemed to notice his presence as she looked up. “Oh! You scared me, deary. Although, you look a little pale like you’ve seen a ghost.”

     “More like dealing with a little annoying demon.” He noted offhandedly as Sock decided to make faces at the back of Jonathan’s head. Jonathan continued to ignore the brat. Even though the whole school thought he was insane, Guidance hadn’t quite caught on. On op of dealing with Sock, he didn’t think a trip to the trippy guidance councilor would help.

     Thankfully, the woman took it as a joke as she smiled knowingly. “I know the feeling, my dear. High School can be a whole other animal, I swear. Was there something you needed?”

     “Yeah, I need to pick up an envelope. Mrs. Mends left it for Jonathan Combs.” He stated quickly as Sock got bored and decided it was more fun to fly through Jonathan’s stomach. Even though Sock was intangible, it was still creepy as hell.

     The woman nodded and looked through the pile of things behind her. “Let’s see… Ah! Here it is.” She said as she spun back around. It was a manilla envelope with his name written on it. “I also need you to sign a consent form in case this goes missing, you understand.” She added with a knowing look.

     Jonathan rolled his eyes but nodded. Just because everyone thought he looked like a stoner didn’t mean he was one. In fact, he’d never touched the stuff in his life.

     Looking at the demon who insisted in making weird comments about the office now, Jonathan couldn’t help but wonder if Sock had ever done drugs.

     Then again, if this was Sock dead, he never ever wanted to see the demon high.

     He might just off himself to avoid that hell.

     Jonathan shook himself from his thoughts as he signed the paper and handed it back to the woman before Sock could see. “Oh, what was that? What’d you get?” Sock pestered as Jonathan left the office.

     Jonathan stuffed the folder into his backpack, closing it tight before Sock could get in. “None of your beeswax. What are you even doing here? Aren’t you off or something?”

     “Nope! I work nine to five on weekdays.” Sock did an air-flip as he grinned. “And, according to the hall clock, you have another two hours with me! Isn’t that great!”

     Jonathan groaned as he trudged away. However, as Sock went from being incredibly annoying, he did make some comment about action movies. Before Jonathan knew what he was doing, he was in an animated debate with Sock about the merits and cons of Marvel movies.

     Interesting fact - Joss Whedon had a summer home in Hell. Him and Sock’s boss played golf sometimes.

* * *

 

     When Saturday morning rolled around, Jonathan woke up feeling like he might have been in heaven. The first thing he noticed was that he actually felt like he got enough sleep for once - mostly because he’d nodded off the second he’d gotten home the night before. However, there was also the pleasant silence to the house that day.

     No parents. No Sock.

     Jonathan had gotten up at his own leisure, made himself a PB&J sandwich, and grabbed his guitar from the upstairs closet. He hadn’t gotten to play as much as he once had - mostly because of Sock. He hated when people listened to him play when he didn’t feel ready, a certain nerdy demon included. Finally, however, the music teacher had granted him permission to use the sound booth at school for a couple of weekends. He was going to record some sick music and get some brownie points with the teacher. He was even planning on submitting to a few contests, maybe make some money for college tuition.

     Jonathan had to walk a few blocks to catch the city bus to Helsinki High School, but it was worth the trip. He got off to see the female tennis players mid-way though practice, enjoying the view before some male track runners came into his view. A security guard began to eye him creepily before Jonathan let himself in through the always-open front door. The rest of the school would be closed, but the doors had to be open for clubs and bathrooms.

     Jonathan began the familiar path to the music room before something floated into the air. It was soft at first, something whimsical that he couldn’t put his finger on. Jonathan continued towards the music room, trying to ignore the sound.

     It got louder.

     And, suddenly, the tune changed. From soft tunes came harsh fiddles as the tune picked up. It was eerie in the most amazing way that shivers actually ran up Jonathan’s spine. Whoever played did so with such ferocity and feeling that Jonathan was entranced by the tune.

     The teen tried to shake his thoughts as he picked up his speed. Was this the ghost he had heard about? Was it some student who broke into the music room? Jonathan reached the door to the room, hand pulling out the key he had been entrusted with, seconds from shoving it in the lock before his thoughts came to a halt.

     “What am I doing?” He muttered to himself as he slouched back and away from the door. He shouldn’t go in. He should go out and bust the intruder. He should go home, ignore it in case it was another crazy demon. Maybe it was just another student like him, with a “true gift” as the music teacher had once described Jonathan when he had thought he was alone after school, long before Sock had come into the picture.

     Sock, the little demon that could never leave him alone. Why couldn’t he be here? Wasn’t there some rule that he had mentioned. Oh, yeah, like how Jonathan had to take his own life for Hell to lay claim to him? That was one of the other reasons Sock was there. He had to make sure nothing else killed Jonathan before he killed himself.

     Some friend Sock was.

     Wait, when did he start calling Sock a friend?

     Jonathan decided that he was done with this train of thought. He ducked his head in his hoodie, grumbling, as he turned away. He would go somewhere else, wait out the music before he went in. He made it two steps before the fiddling reached a climax…

     …and fell so gracefully into A Thousand Years.

     Jonathan froze as the instrumental song flowed through his ears. It was one of his favorite songs to listen to outside of Valhalla Soundbox. He listened to Piano Guys do covers of it whenever he needed a change of pace or something to help him focus. It was a perfect song to relax to as well.

     And whoever was playing it was doing it with such sweet beauty.

     Jonathan spun on his heal before he could recognize his actions. He slid the key into the door and unlocked it, feeling his surprise at the fact that it had been locked (he guessed the other student must have locked it for privacy). The music increased tenfold as Jonathan inched in, eyes looking about. He saw no one initially as he entered further. The stage before him was small as it opened to the audience seating where students would practice. The back of the stage was covered by a curtain, stoping Jonathan from seeing who was on stage as the door opened to that side of the room.

     Slowly, Jonathan let the door slide shut as he slunk around the corner. As his eyes raked over the stage, he felt his mouth drop.

     Sock floated before the stage like a natural, his fingers sliding up and down the shaft like a dance as his other hand moved the bow like a mother rocking a child - slow but deliberately gentle. Each note was perfect.

     Jonathan hadn’t realized that, while watching Sock, he had began to lose his footing, leaning over too far. He crashed into the ground before he could catch himself as a loud BANG resonated through the room, amplified more so by the sound-rebounding build of the room.

      Sock fell to the stage with his own stomp as the musical instrument was clung to his chest. Forrest green met cerulean blue as both spoke at once.

     “Jonathan? What are you doing here?!?”

     “How did I never know you played the violin?!?”

     Sock blushed as, still holding the instrument, he pulled the side of his hat down. Jonathan had noticed after a while that Sock did this whenever he felt embarrassed so greatly, usually by something he couldn’t change about himself. Jonathan didn’t know that this was also related to Sock’s hiding every time a bully, in his past life (before becoming a demon), came to, well, bully him. _It didn’t help that I had no friends_ Sock added bitterly in his own mind.

     “I… I really don’t play that well. It’s just a stupid hobby my mom made me pick up when she thought I needed an outlet for my ‘violent’ tendencies.” Sock snorted as he released his hat. “One squirrel and EVERYONE thinks I’m a murderer. I mean, I did end up killing people but…”

     Jonathan really didn’t want to hear the gory details of Sock’s sleep-murder-awake-suicide (again), so he cut off the other teen. “What are you talking about? You’re good. Like, a gift good.”

     Sock’s blush deepened. “I’m really not. I mean, in comparison to you, I should burn my violin.” He looked to the instrument, which, Jonathan now noticed, had an eerie glow to it.

     “NO! You shouldn’t… Wait, what?” Jonathan slammed to a halt as the rest of the statement came to mind. “Wait, you’ve heard me play?”

     Sock tried to look at his shoes. “I mean, you never played when you knew I was around, but I got back from a demon thing early once and heard you play… and… well…”

     Jonathan began to put pieces together. “Wait, you were SPYING on me? All those times?” He tried to count the number of times Sock had left him. _Man, the kid was creepy._

     Sock snorted. “Of course not.” He waved his hand as the bow spun in the air. “I had other stuff to do. I like especially to come here. It reminds me of my old school.” He trailed off as he lightly rubbed the violin. “The music room was the only place I could play and no one would make fun of me for being a sissy violinist.”

     Jonathan tried to retort, to let the anger from being spied on flourish, but it died on his lips as he saw the look on Sock’s face. For a demon, it was easy to feel for the kid. His eyes were so ripe with inner turmoil and whist as he hugged the violin to his chest like a lost friend. It was painful to see him like Jonathan was about to rip him a new one.

     Jonathan knew the feeling. Every time he brought up music, people never believed he could do anything with it. It was his passion, his outlet, and they all threw it under the bus. His guitar had gotten through his thoughts of suicide, the death of his dog, the move across state, more thoughts, and even the recent stints of an annoying demon bent on causing you to off yourself slowly transforming into…

     Jonathan wasn’t going to call it friendship.

    He wasn’t.

    Jonathan heaved onto the stage as the shaking of the flimsy boards knocked Sock from his trance. Before Sock could say anything, Jonathan sat next to him on the floor and popped open his case. “I gotta practice if I want to enter this contest next month. If you want to stay, you gotta keep up.”

    Sock’s eyes popped out of his head as, ever so hesitantly, he crossed his legs and came to float even with Jonathan. He set the violin in his lap as he leaned over to see the sheet music. “What are you playing?”

     Jonathan leaned the sheets against his open case once the guitar was in his own lap. “I need a couple songs, but for now I’m going to practice my ‘Song of the Century’ pick with my own twist.” Sock’s eyes scanned the music before he looked back at Jonathan. Jonathan was grinning as he plucked the first string on the guitar. “Think you can keep up?”

     Sock grinned.

     When the tennis girls and the track boys and the newspaper writers and student council leaders entered and exited the school throughout that Saturday, they noticed a change in the music. A sad violin transformed into a soulful strum, seemingly meshing music of the classics and the classic rocks. The songs changed throughout the day, some swearing that they even heard renditions of “Frozen” and a war of Star Trek theme versus Star Wars.

     It was eerie.

     But, more so, it was oh so beautiful.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea a while ago. It's Fanon that Jonathan plays guitar, but after seeing the video again I thought "I bet Sock plays violin really well."
> 
> I finally got out of my funk and wrote it.
> 
> Enjoy!


End file.
